new owners tinkerings

H

hnygt4

Member
hi guys, so I've had my Zed for a couple of weeks now and started some minor tinkering with it, first thing was the headlights, vision at night is awful and at least partly down to the headlight covers starting to ghost up so I got the autoglym restorer kit and got to it

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this was the better of the two but i forgot to get a before pic of the passenger side

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after some 800 grit treatment....really thought iI had destroyed my headlight here, never thought it could be fixed from this, next pad was 1500 grit, then 2k then 3k then a buffer with their polishing compound

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Cant recomend the Autoglym kit enough, was really easy and woked a treat, just remember to use a good few layers of masking tape around the lights if you ever do this!!!

cannot believe how well they came out in the end and has really improved visibility at night and looks sooooo much better
next thing now is to retrofit some HIDs.

I've done it on most of my previous cars but is it possible on zeds? seeing as access to the rear of the lights is through the wheel arch, is there room to mount slimline ballasts inside the rear of the headligts? I normally mount the ballasts in the engine bay.


next bit of tinkering will be a better gearknob, have searched for the ZHP knob on here, most links are out of date now so any recent links on where to get one at a good price? some on ebay from the US but tbh I don't trust them to be genuine.

also think I'm going to pull the bloody CDV out today too :D
 
next bit of tinkering will be a better gearknob, have searched for the ZHP knob on here, most links are out of date now so any recent links on where to get one at a good price? some on ebay from the US but tbh I don't trust them to be genuine.

I got my new gear nob from Cotswold BMW on eBay. I think the part number was: 25117896886

Great job on the headlights BTW :thumbsup:
 
Plenty of room for the ballasts etc, I installed a 35w kit in mine, better but not good enough, so I now have a 55w kit fitted. Much improved.

However I also stripped the lights and cleaned both sides of the fresnel lens. The difference was staggering as they were very cloudy and affecting the beam pattern.

Mike
 
lewisB that is indeed, knob is ordered, thanks for the P/N :thumbsup:

and thanks for the info on HIDs, time for some shopping :D
don't think i'll strip the covers off to do the insides yet, they look great as they are now, although the passenger side does mist up slightly so may in the future and reseal them better :thumbsup:

hopefully will get chance tp pull the CDV off later too, pretty much learned to drive around it but its a right pain, especially in sport mode, adding a very unnatural half second delay into the right leg on upshifts
 
Well the car got stinking from doing it so it had a wash and wax, including the headlights, which i gave 2 or 3 coats, apart from that I'm not sure but i guess the wax was better than nothing and boosted the shine a bit more
 
Rusky, sound gen mod was done within minutes of overship :rofl: tried both foams out yesterday though and while it sounded awesome, bleeding ears is, I'm guessing, bad :D :D so bulkhead foam back in

Ahhh I'v ordered the knob already, same price i think :thumbsup:
 
The ZHP is a definite improvement but I went further and bought a Storm Motorwerks V2, i weighs nearly 3 times more than ZHP and really improves the change further. They are pricey but the quality is also excellent, probably best mod I've made (not that I've made many).

http://www.storm-motorwerks.com/interior/bmw/
 
this was waiting for me when I got home today, fitted as advised on here, roof down, shoes off, foot on each seat, pull!
will see if its made much difference in the morning :driving:

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hnygt4 said:
this was waiting for me when I got home today, fitted as advised on here, roof down, shoes off, foot on each seat, pull!
will see if its made much difference in the morning :driving:
Click to expand...

I fitted mine just after Christmas, I feel it makes a big difference in the throws between gears especially between first and second. Seems a lot smoother now than before. :driving:
 
so today I drove it with the new knob, throw is noticeably shorter and gear selection is less clunky, but only slightly, pretty disapointed to be honest, a bit nicer bit still not great, so I thought I would cheer myself up by finally pulling the cdv off

now I have learned to drive like it now but still found it a bit annoying so was really looking forward to trying it with it off, got the car up in the air and got under it.....

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not the best pic sorry and cant really see under the bracket but the cdv is already gone!!!!!!!
waste of time and gutted now the clutch operation isnt going to get better, I've had cars with all kinds of multi plate, unsprung nasty grabby heavy clutches and this is the worst, really annoying, my volvo has a sachs uprated 'motorsport' clutch and smf, so much nicer, oh well I suppose half the fun in a sportscar is actually driving it lol, I'm going to blame the lovely n52 for being too responsive and revvy for any hydro clutch setup :thumbsup:

I must say though, while the lower gears are clunky and clutch annoying, with spririted driving its really really good, fast changes are fine and the gear ratios match the engine really well, before buying the car I had already looked into a shorter diff but its really not needed.
Its just pottering around town the first 3 gears drive me up the wall!! maybe I'll turn sport mode off once in a while...maybe

bonus pic, I found a real use for VAG car parts, may i present the Audi RS4 powered BMW stand...

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:rofl: :rofl: something a VW is actually good for!!!

oh and another mod arrived today....

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the standard pug stubby :thumbsup:
 
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